"Turning the Tides" is the tenth episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', which aired on June 16, 2012.

The episode starts with Korra resting, Mako watching over her. Asami is disheartened that he is spending so much time with Korra. In another room, Ikki, Jinora, Meelo, and Pema are happy to find that Korra is safe.

Later in the evening, after dinner, she describes the events of [[Recap/TheLegendOfKorraS1E9OutOfThePast the night before]]. Tenzin and Lin Beifong are shocked to hear that Amon captured a councilman. In the kitchen, Asami and Mako have an argument about Mako's feelings for Korra and [[Recap/TheLegendOfKorraS1E5TheSpiritofCompetition the kiss with Korra]]. Later outside, Tenzin asks Lin to watch over Pema and the children, to which Lin accepts, and Tenzin leaves on Oogi to talk to the other councilmen.

Equalists have managed to capture the three other council members, and three disguised as window washers ambush Tenzin on the roof of City Hall. Tenzin demonstrates his mastery of airbending to escape, with the realization that he is the only councilman left. He meets with Chief Saikhan in police headquarters. Tenzin decides to contact the United Forces, but at that moment, Equalists sabotage the lines and fill the building with gas. Tenzin evacuates everyone safely, only to find mecha tanks waiting outside. First the officers then Tenzin are eventually incapacitated, and the Equalists leave with the captured police. Korra and her friends arrive at the scene and rescue Tenzin before he's carried away, and they destroy the remaining mechas.

In one of the airships, Amon assures Hiroshi that Asami will soon be back with him. The Equalists invade Air Temple Island. Lin tells Pema and the kids to hide. Pema goes into labor, and two Air Acolytes help her indoors. Two airships anchor themselves to the island, and the Lieutenant and a group of Equalists disembark. Lin fights off some of them but is brought down. Jinora enters and sends the Lieutenant flying, and Ikki and Meelo soon follow and are able to defeat the rest.

When Tenzin and Korra arrive, Lin tells Tenzin he should be proud of his kids. Tenzin finds Pema, who is holding their newborn son, Rohan. The moment is interrupted when more Equalists approach the island. Tenzin, his family, and Lin flee on Oogi, leaving Korra and her friends to hide and wait for the United Forces to arrive.

White Lotus guards fight the Equalists while the group rides Naga, who swats the approaching Lieutenant before jumping into the water to head for the mainland. Meanwhile, two Equalist aircraft pursue Oogi. Seeing that the Equalists are gaining, Lin tells Tenzin not to go back for her, no matter what happens. She launches herself onto one of the ships and rips a large hole in it, rendering it incapable of staying aloft. She is shocked into unconsciousness before she can destroy the second. The family watches the events solemnly. Tenzin agrees with Meelo, who says Lin is a hero.

Lin is confronted by Amon. She refuses to disclose the Avatar's location and loses her bending as a result.

The United Forces are at sea, with General Iroh, a young man, on the frontmost warship. A telegrapher tells him they received a wire from the Avatar that Republic City is under attack. The general tells him to reply that his forces will be there in three days and he looks forward to retaking the city together with her.

!!Tropes in this episode:* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The Equalists invade Air Temple Island and successfully seize control of Republic City.* BadassAdorable: Tenzin's kids.* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Korra's scratches from the past two episodes disappear between her resting in bed and getting up to eat. Justified, though: Korra is a skilled healer, and the cuts were not deep.* BigDamnHeroes:** The airbender kids coming to Lin's rescue.** Team Avatar showing up to save Tenzin.* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: Played with. The "death" in this case is not that of a person but of Republic City (as we know it, anyway). Considering the ending of the episode, it might lie with Lin. Especially since she sacrifices herself for the airbenders.* BittersweetEnding: Tenzin and his family escape as does Team Avatar and reinforcements are coming. However, Amon and the Equalists now control Republic City, and Lin's bending has been taken away.* BreastAttack: Although she probably wasn't aiming there specifically, Asami knocks out a female Equalist by hitting her with the electric glove in the breast.* CarFu: The Korramobile is sacrificed by launching it at two Mecha-tanks via a jump off an earthbending-made ramp.* CharacterDevelopment: We do get to see a bit more about Asami, especially [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NDej4oo9yw&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL74DE143B0F2C9F3C combat wise.]]* ContrivedCoincidence: Of ''course'' Pema would go into labor the moment Air Temple Island is attacked. She did have an obvious contraction well before that point, though, and stress can induce labor.* CoolAirship: The Equalist Airships, now deployed en masse. They're significantly faster than the Fire Nation airships had been in ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'', as displayed by their ability to catch up to sky bison.* CoolBoat: The battleships of the United Forces, seen cruising for Republic City at the end. They bear the logos of the Water Tribes, Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, and are presumably crewed by members of all of three elemental nations.* DarkestHour* DeadGuyJunior: The general of the United Forces is named Iroh. He's also Zuko's grandson and has a [[IdenticalGrandson suspiciously similar voice]].* DefiantToTheEnd: Not a death, but Lin Beifong, when offered the chance to give up the Avatar and save herself, basically glares at Amon and refuses.* DePower: Lin Beifong.* DistressBall: Lin tries to grapple the Lieutenant and gets electrocuted for her troubles. This is largely done to make way for The Airbending kids' BigDamnHeroes moment* DynamicEntry: Team Avatar's entrance involves launching a car right at one of the mechas when they save Tenzin.* ExpressiveHair: When the "window washers" are about to jump Tenzin, the static from their electric weapons makes his beard frizz out, giving him enough warning to dodge the cables thrown at him.* {{Fartillery}}: Meelo fartbends on an Equalist mook to take him down. Lucky for the mook he/she wore a gas mask.* ForgotAboutHisPowers: As Asami points out, Mako could have heated the water himself, being a firebender, instead of needing to ask for more.* GreenEyedMonster: Justified, but Asami continues to manage it well (the car incident not withstanding) and makes it perfectly clear her issues are with Mako's behavior and the fact that he was not honest about his feelings, and not with Korra or her actions. It doesn't affect Asami's focus on the mission at all.* GroinAttack: ** Asami strucks an Equalist there.** While anatomically ineffective, Tenzin dispatches the last Mecha-Tank in this manner, as well, launching it upward with a particularly strong blast of Airbending.* HeroicSacrifice: Lin Beifong, in a nonfatal example. She's about to escape to safety with Tenzin and family, but Equalists are following them, so she attacks the Equalist airships. She takes down one, before being captured and losing her bending because she would not reveal Korra's location. Can double as a TearJerker.-->'''Lin:''' Whatever happens to me, don't turn back! ''(Jumps to the airships to cover the family's escape)''* HopeSpot: The attack on the temple is repelled. Oh, wait, they're sending more airships.* LetsGetDangerous: Tenzin's children. They may be kids, but they're airbenders trained by the best.* TheMissusAndTheEx: Tenzin, Pema and Lin on Air Temple Island. If the Equalists weren't attacking and Pema hadn't gone into labor, more might have come of it.* MookChivalry: Finally the Chi-blockers learn some tradition. Half a dozen stand still and let themselves be knocked over by a slow attack, and they back away when the Lieutenant fights Lin. Once the kids show up, it's at least partially [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as the Equalists were probably not prepared (or, perhaps, [[PetTheDog will]][[WouldntHurtAChild ing]]) to fight children.** Letting the Lieutenant handle Lin is justified. His equipment gives him clearly the edge against metalbenders, while Chi-blockers do have trouble fighting against them.* NoodleIncident: Only Korra was left to park the team car after the rest of her teammates got arrested two episodes ago. It somehow ended up slammed into a lamppost and got a pile of tickets.-->'''Korra:''' I made it very clear ''[[DrivesLikeCrazy I don't know how to drive]]''.* NotWhatISignedUpFor: Tenzin asks Lin to look after his children while he heads to the council, and she agrees. A few seconds later Pema asks her to give Meelo a bath [[ToiletHumor (while he is about to poop, by the way)]] and she's complaining about that not being part of the agreement.* OhCrap: Before Mako and Asami had their argument, Pema left them alone, hurrying out of there with a rather uneasy expression.* PreAssKickingOneLiner: Jinora delivers one before saving Lin.-->"Stay away from my dad's ex-girlfriend!"* ScoobyStack: The airbender kids, waiting to meet their new brother.* ShipTease: Between Mako and Korra... much to Asami's dismay.* StrongFamilyResemblance: Between Zuko and Iroh.* ThirdActStupidity: Really, Lin? Using *metal* whips on a guy with a clearly electrical weapon? Really?* ThreeMonthOldNewborn: The baby's eyes are open, he has a full head of hair instead of fuzz ([[RealityIsUnrealistic though this is merely rare, not impossible)]], and he's already cooing.* TitleDrop:** Tenzin calls for reinforcements from the United Forces, saying that it will turn the tides of this war.** Lin Beifong references the title of the previous series, saying that Tenzin and his family are the last airbenders.* ToiletHumor: Meelo gives new meaning to the term "[[{{Pun}} breaking wind]]".* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Thanks to the season finale preview, the bad guys winning in this episode was no surprise. The smaller twists were, though.** Also, Iroh's big, badass fleet? The finale trailers show [[spoiler:that it gets wrecked]].* UnbalancedByRivalsKid: In fairness to Lin, there's probably no one strong enough to endure the antics of Meelo.* VisualPun: The scene where Asami says her power glove will come in "handy".* WhamEpisode: Yet another one. This episode has the Equalists launching an attack on Republic City, Lin Beifong doing a HeroicSacrifice to help Tenzin and his family escape the Equalists, and she loses her ability to bend in the process, and the appearance of General Iroh at the end of the episode, leading the United Forces.* WhamLine: A pair of them at the end, although it is not exactly the content but the ''context'':--> ''Commander'': General, I've just received a wire from the Avatar; she says Amon and his forces have control of the city. How do you want to respond?--> ''General'': [[Creator/DanteBasco Tell her we will be arriving in 3 days time,]] [[IdenticalGrandson and that I look forward to winning back Republic City. Together.]]--> ''Commander'': As you wish, '''General Iroh'''.* WorkingWithTheEx** There's also an uncomfortable TheMissusAndTheEx moment when Pema hands Meelo to Lin.* WouldHurtAChild: Tenzin implied Amon is the type of person who would do this given he is afraid for the safety of his children because Amon took over the Island in hopes of wiping out the Airbenders.* YouMonster: Lin calls Amon a Monster.* YourCheatingHeart: Asami confronts Mako about the kiss. He does not handle it gracefully.* YouShallNotPass:** Members of the Order of the White Lotus fight off Equalists from the third airship to allow Korra and her friends to escape Air Temple Island.** Lin attacks the pursuing airships in order to give Tenzin and family time to escape.----